Mass. lawyer gets 18 years on enticement charge

AP , Associated Press

Sep. 11, 201310:23 AM ET

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts lawyer who was also a Boy Scout leader and substitute teacher has been sentenced to more than 18 years in prison for using the Internet to try to entice young boys into unlawful sexual conduct.

Andrew Myers of Northbridge was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to 18 years and four months in prison on four counts of enticing and attempting to entice minors for sex, and a concurrent 10-year sentence for child pornography possession, to be followed by 10 years of probation upon release.

Myers, 34, pleaded guilty in June to sending sexually graphic emails to several minor boys discussing sex acts and soliciting sex acts. Three boys were local, but it was contact with a Colorado boy that brought him to the attention of authorities. The mother of a 12-year-old Larimer County, Colo., boy went to police with evidence of sexually explicit chats between her son and a man police later determined was Myers.

The mother of one 11-year-old victim read a tearful statement in court, according to The Telegram & Gazette (http://bit.ly/15QXU66 ).

"You stole something from him that can never be replaced," she said. "For that, I will never forgive you."

Judge Timothy Hillman said the fact that Myers put himself in positions where he would have contact with children played a part in the sentence.

But his lawyer, Katherine Godin, said her client had a "sincere passion" for volunteerism, and did not volunteer with the Boy Scouts or become a substitute teacher as a way to groom or cultivate victims.

Myers, who served on the Northbridge School Committee and once ran for a seat in the state House of Representatives, apologized in court.

Although he never had physical contact with the boys, he acknowledged that he has left emotional scars.

"The anger that you have for me is matched by the shame and guilt I feel," Myers said.

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts lawyer who was also a Boy Scout leader and substitute teacher has been sentenced to more than 18 years in prison for using the Internet to try to entice young boys into unlawful sexual conduct.